ArticlePloS one2015
Quantitative profiling of colorectal cancer-associated bacteria reveals associations between fusobacterium spp., enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF) and clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 159 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
159 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 249 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Gut Microbiota on the Clinical Course and Treatment Outcomes of Colorectal Cancer-A Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence of enterotoxigenicFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- A systemic review of the role of enterotoxic Bacteroides fragilis in colorectal cancer.Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2022Pooled it
- Role of the intestinal microbiome in colorectal cancer surgery outcomes.World journal of surgical oncology · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Intratumoral microbiota in tumorigenesis: A double-edged sword.Chinese medical journal · 2026Review
- Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis Induces Host Genotype-Specific Colonic Epithelial and Immune Responses in Mice.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- The gut microbiome in the Lebanese population and its alterations in metastatic colorectal cancer: benchmarking and application.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- The Phylum Fusobacteriota Is Associated with Colorectal Cancer-Specific Mortality: Results from the Translational Research Program in Cancer Differences across Populations.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2026Article
- Article
- Emerging risk factors and the role of gut microbiota in immunomodulation and therapeutic implications in colorectal cancer.Cancer pathogenesis and therapy · 2026Review
- Oral microbiome contribution in colorectal carcinogenesis: polymicrobial interactions and virulence determinants.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Bridging aging and colorectal cancer: synergistic roles of inflammaging and immunosenescence.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Shifts in the human gut microbiome during cancer chemotherapy are diet-dependent.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- L-serine promotes pro-carcinogenic effects of colibactin-producingGut microbes · 2025Article
- Article
- Early-onset colorectal cancer as an emerging disease of metabolic dysregulation.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Fusobacterium nucleatum and non-coding RNAs: orchestrating oncogenic pathways in colorectal cancer.Gut pathogens · 2025Review
- The Translational Research Program in Cancer Differences across Populations.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Article
- Biological Mechanisms of EnterotoxigenicToxins · 2025Review
99 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Various studies have presented clinical or in vitro evidence linking bacteria to colorectal cancer, but these bacteria have not previously been concurrently quantified by qPCR in a single cohort. We quantify these bacteria (Fusobacterium spp., Streptococcus gallolyticus, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF), Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), and afaC- or pks-positive E. coli) in paired tumour and normal tissue samples from 55 colorectal cancer patients. We further investigate the relationship between a) the presence and b) the level of colonisation of each bacterial species with site and stage of disease, age, gender, ethnicity and MSI-status. With the exception of S. gallolyticus, we detected all bacteria profiled here in both tumour and normal samples at varying frequencies. ETBF (FDR = 0.001 and 0.002 for normal and tumour samples) and afaC-positive E. coli (FDR = 0.03, normal samples) were significantly enriched in the colon compared to the rectum. ETBF (FDR = 0.04 and 0.002 for normal and tumour samples, respectively) and Fusobacterium spp. (FDR = 0.03 tumour samples) levels were significantly higher in late stage (III/IV) colorectal cancers. Fusobacterium was by far the most common bacteria detected, occurring in 82% and 81% of paired tumour and normal samples. Fusobacterium was also the only bacterium that was significantly higher in tumour compared to normal samples (p = 6e-5). We also identified significant associations between high-level colonisation by Fusobacterium and MSI-H (FDR = 0.05), age (FDR = 0.03) or pks-positive E. coli (FDR = 0.01). Furthermore, we exclusively identified atypical EPEC in our cohort, which has not been previously reported in association with colorectal cancer. By quantifying colorectal cancer-associated bacteria across a single cohort, we uncovered inter- and intra-individual patterns of colonization not previously recognized, as well as important associations with clinicopathological features, especially in the case of Fusobacterium and ETBF.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.